Report -Hartford Mill, Oldham - April 2013

Love it!

Visited with Tom Sherman & Stopford Lad starting out nice and early! I've posted this in this section as Stopford has just posted the internals of the mill, and i did a report last year and not much has changed internally.

Unsure why the images are so dark, maybe its because i'm using jpeg on photobucket? They weren't that dark on the raws?!

Hartford Cotton Mill - Oldham

Hartford Cotton Mill in Oldham was built in 1907, Its a typical red brick spinning mill of a type that
made Lancashire famous as the cotton spinning capital of the world.

The mill was expanded in 1920 and again in 1924, power was provided by a 1500hp Urmson &
Thompson steam engine, capable of driving 120,000 spindles. Following the depression of the
1930's demand for cotton slumped causing factory closures and many workers to leave the industry.
During the second world war there was a brief reprive as the cotton industry produced fabrics for
war use, but by the mid 1950's the industry again in trouble as increased compentition from
overseas sent the industry into a long slow decline. Hartford ended production in 1959.

The mill was reused by the retailer Littlewoods who used the buildings for distribution up until
1992. The buildings have been derelict since then and have been badly vandalised and there
have been several fires. Not much remains of the mills prodction equipment now and despite
being grade 2 listed it seems likely Hartford will be demolished to build another bland housing estate